Major Issues
Elder Member
Played Dropping Like Flies
against Walt Harrar. He wanted to be the Americans.
Japanese with lots of fortifications, pillboxes, and dug-in tanks
are defending an urban area. It was nice to play the Japanese on something other than jungle boards. And, like I always say, "Orange is the new black." The Americans have to take multi-hex buildings, and can come at the Japanese from two sides.
The bulk of my forces were on the south and west edges of board 45. I had a couple speed bumps, mines, and a HIP MMG on board 22. The cupolas get to set up HIP, and they were all around the board junction. While it would be cool to get a side or rear shot on his tanks, I would be perfectly happy shooting at 6 morale American squads with them.
Walt traded his 3 light mortars for OBA, plus some magic beans. One rules glitch we found - radio maintenance rolls with the 60 mm OBA get a -2 drm, not a -1. This is not in Chapter C, which specifies 70-80mm. It is in the Chapter H Ordnance notes.
Walt split his forces between board 22 and 19/45. He started with an on-target Smoke Barrage running diagonally on 45. He drew a red card with his 60 mm. The Smoke covered one dummy stack and a 347, and was adjacent to a HIP cupola and a HIP pillbox with my 105. His dudes run into the smoke. A 667 finds the pillbox, gets bounced back, then is Pinned. On board 22, he does obliterate a HS with a mortar in Prep, but fear of HIP kept him from moving far. My concealed 347 fails to get ambush, and dies in CC. A HS finds the cupola in APh, and also the Wire on top of it.
Not a great half turn for me. In my half, I do break the 667 adjacent to my 105, and his HS in Melee with the cupola dies.
His turn 2, and he has to come out from the smoke. He finds my mines around the church. A Sherman finds AT mines in the road, and decides to risk exiting. I roll a 2 to set one off, then a 12 on the effects roll. As far as we could tell, this is not a dud, so the tank is immobilized.
Does the crew pass their TC? No. Does my HMG take advantage of them bailing out? Yes. One dead crew, and one tank I don't have to worry about.
But it gets worse. Much worse. Walt decides to run forward with his 9-2 led kill stack, which is 3 crews with 2 HMGs and a .50 cal. My MMG in the church steeple gets a KIA, he loses a crew, and everyone else drops their guns and runs away. I lose one cupola to a Sherman.
My turn 2, my MMG has a LOS to his broken 9-2 and the crews. I fire to DM, result and ROF, he loses another crew and the 9-2 is wounded. 2nd shot, another great result, and everyone dies. I shoot up some guys of his on board 45. His DFF, his 105 Sherman gets a CH on the offending MMG, who is vaporized. A HS of his that made it across the street on board 45 gets jumped by a 448 and dies.
Turn 3, Walt pulls a red card on his 105 module. One Sherman smokes my 105. One of his Shermans and a cupola start duking it out at one hex range. My HMGs go on a tear,
and with multiple ROF, his 8-1 wounds and dies. He now has big trouble. His two 7-0s are back on board 19 as OBA spotters. With two leaders dead, he now has only two left to take care of all his squads, many of whom are broken.
He lays down WP with his 60 mm OBA and moves some squads into it. My cupola and his Sherman continue plinking at 1 hex range. He can't get hits, I can't get kills. He finds more mines on board 22, and a HS breaks. My DFF, my 448 throws a DC into the smoke and break two squads. He must have a hell of an arm, because the blast does nothing to him.
Would I get the Smoke drm on the Thrown DC attack against myself? Gut feeling is "no", and that's how we played it, but I'm not sure.
I also nail Walt's broken HS on board 22 with a craptacular shot. I just wanted to chase him back downstairs into the mines.
In CC, I lose the 448.
After American 4, Walt reevaluates his position, and his Life Choices. He decides to throw in the towel. I still have two cupolas HIP (22FF9 and 22GG7), plus the 47L pillbox (45Z0.) He finally has gotten across the street on board 45, but with only one squad and a 9-1. I had lost a cupola, 2 leaders, three squads, a crew, a HMG and a MMG. 40 CVPs is an instant win, and I was up to 22. Pic of the board when he called it:
Under the blue acq is my cupola, under the brown acq is my 105 pillbox.
This is very pro-Japanese on ROAR, but I think the Americans can win. Red cards with both OBAs hurt, and the loss of the 9-2 and all HMGs hurt big time. The Japanese have a very strong defensive position, but not a ton of squads for the area to cover, so a breakthrough can allow the Americans to romp through empty buildings on board 45. I wanted to keep the DC squads back off the front line, but needed them to make sure that the Fortified Locations were manned by more than just a crew, in order to deny him entry.
Walt kept his FT back, and it never saw action. I never tried for a ATHH, wanting to save them for when he didn't have giant piles of infantry nearby to cut them down. SANs were 4 and 6, but there weren't very many snipers in the game. There is an SSR about CX Americans possibly becoming pinned due to heat exhaustion, but it never came into play.
US balance on this is to add a 9-1 AL and a FT to a tank.
Despite the outcome, Walt did have fun playing this.
against Walt Harrar. He wanted to be the Americans.
Japanese with lots of fortifications, pillboxes, and dug-in tanks
are defending an urban area. It was nice to play the Japanese on something other than jungle boards. And, like I always say, "Orange is the new black." The Americans have to take multi-hex buildings, and can come at the Japanese from two sides.
The bulk of my forces were on the south and west edges of board 45. I had a couple speed bumps, mines, and a HIP MMG on board 22. The cupolas get to set up HIP, and they were all around the board junction. While it would be cool to get a side or rear shot on his tanks, I would be perfectly happy shooting at 6 morale American squads with them.
Walt traded his 3 light mortars for OBA, plus some magic beans. One rules glitch we found - radio maintenance rolls with the 60 mm OBA get a -2 drm, not a -1. This is not in Chapter C, which specifies 70-80mm. It is in the Chapter H Ordnance notes.
Walt split his forces between board 22 and 19/45. He started with an on-target Smoke Barrage running diagonally on 45. He drew a red card with his 60 mm. The Smoke covered one dummy stack and a 347, and was adjacent to a HIP cupola and a HIP pillbox with my 105. His dudes run into the smoke. A 667 finds the pillbox, gets bounced back, then is Pinned. On board 22, he does obliterate a HS with a mortar in Prep, but fear of HIP kept him from moving far. My concealed 347 fails to get ambush, and dies in CC. A HS finds the cupola in APh, and also the Wire on top of it.
Not a great half turn for me. In my half, I do break the 667 adjacent to my 105, and his HS in Melee with the cupola dies.
His turn 2, and he has to come out from the smoke. He finds my mines around the church. A Sherman finds AT mines in the road, and decides to risk exiting. I roll a 2 to set one off, then a 12 on the effects roll. As far as we could tell, this is not a dud, so the tank is immobilized.
Does the crew pass their TC? No. Does my HMG take advantage of them bailing out? Yes. One dead crew, and one tank I don't have to worry about.
But it gets worse. Much worse. Walt decides to run forward with his 9-2 led kill stack, which is 3 crews with 2 HMGs and a .50 cal. My MMG in the church steeple gets a KIA, he loses a crew, and everyone else drops their guns and runs away. I lose one cupola to a Sherman.
My turn 2, my MMG has a LOS to his broken 9-2 and the crews. I fire to DM, result and ROF, he loses another crew and the 9-2 is wounded. 2nd shot, another great result, and everyone dies. I shoot up some guys of his on board 45. His DFF, his 105 Sherman gets a CH on the offending MMG, who is vaporized. A HS of his that made it across the street on board 45 gets jumped by a 448 and dies.
Turn 3, Walt pulls a red card on his 105 module. One Sherman smokes my 105. One of his Shermans and a cupola start duking it out at one hex range. My HMGs go on a tear,
and with multiple ROF, his 8-1 wounds and dies. He now has big trouble. His two 7-0s are back on board 19 as OBA spotters. With two leaders dead, he now has only two left to take care of all his squads, many of whom are broken.
He lays down WP with his 60 mm OBA and moves some squads into it. My cupola and his Sherman continue plinking at 1 hex range. He can't get hits, I can't get kills. He finds more mines on board 22, and a HS breaks. My DFF, my 448 throws a DC into the smoke and break two squads. He must have a hell of an arm, because the blast does nothing to him.
Would I get the Smoke drm on the Thrown DC attack against myself? Gut feeling is "no", and that's how we played it, but I'm not sure.
I also nail Walt's broken HS on board 22 with a craptacular shot. I just wanted to chase him back downstairs into the mines.
In CC, I lose the 448.
After American 4, Walt reevaluates his position, and his Life Choices. He decides to throw in the towel. I still have two cupolas HIP (22FF9 and 22GG7), plus the 47L pillbox (45Z0.) He finally has gotten across the street on board 45, but with only one squad and a 9-1. I had lost a cupola, 2 leaders, three squads, a crew, a HMG and a MMG. 40 CVPs is an instant win, and I was up to 22. Pic of the board when he called it:
Under the blue acq is my cupola, under the brown acq is my 105 pillbox.
This is very pro-Japanese on ROAR, but I think the Americans can win. Red cards with both OBAs hurt, and the loss of the 9-2 and all HMGs hurt big time. The Japanese have a very strong defensive position, but not a ton of squads for the area to cover, so a breakthrough can allow the Americans to romp through empty buildings on board 45. I wanted to keep the DC squads back off the front line, but needed them to make sure that the Fortified Locations were manned by more than just a crew, in order to deny him entry.
Walt kept his FT back, and it never saw action. I never tried for a ATHH, wanting to save them for when he didn't have giant piles of infantry nearby to cut them down. SANs were 4 and 6, but there weren't very many snipers in the game. There is an SSR about CX Americans possibly becoming pinned due to heat exhaustion, but it never came into play.
US balance on this is to add a 9-1 AL and a FT to a tank.
Despite the outcome, Walt did have fun playing this.
